1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a system capable of carrying out a printing operation without waiting for a while if a printing device (hereinafter referred to as a printer) receiving printing job data cannot execute the printing operation due to some reason.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been proposed a printing system in which a plurality of host computers and a plurality of printers are connected through a network line and a printing operation can be executed when printing job data is transmitted from any of the host computers to one of the printers.
For example, there has been known a printing system in which a printer having the function and performance desired by a user is automatically selected from a plurality of printers by means of a host computer or a printer managing device (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications Nos. 6-242899 and 7-141128).
However, the above-mentioned conventional printing system has had the following problem. More specifically, if one of the printers is specified to transmit printing job data and a large number of printing jobs have had been cued in the printer, the next printing operation cannot be carried out until the processing is completed. Therefore, it takes a long time to complete the printing operation.